Honolulu Advertiser editor leaving newspaper business

Saundra Keyes, editor of the Honolulu Advertiser, is leaving the newspaper business to return to teaching journalism.

She has accepted the position of journalism professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. Keyes previously worked at Knight-Ridder newspapers for most of her career and joined the Gannett Co. Inc.-owned Advertiser in December 2000.

"I was a college professor before I was a journalist," she said.

She earned a doctorate in folklore, following interdisciplinary studies in cultural anthropology and American literature, and was teaching English at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., when she was asked to teach a journalism class.

"I figured I ought to learn something about journalism, so I got a part-time job at my local newspaper and fell in love with newspapers," she said.

Her job at the Tennessean led to a career change that she said she has "never regretted."

"But I loved the involvement with students and from time to time you think, 'what if?' and I thought, 'maybe someday I would like to teach again,'" Keyes said.

The opportunity arose with the Reno job, within "easy travel" proximity to her mother and other family members, she said.

"It's so hard to leave Hawaii and to leave our newsroom. I just love the colleagues that I work with, but it's exciting to think of new generations of journalists," she said.

Keyes will be replaced by Managing Editor Mark Platte, at a date to be determined. "We'll figure out a transition (timetable) that makes sense for both of us," she said.